Internal-combustion engine



New. 27, 1923.

G. A. MALETTE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGI NE Filed June 21, 1921 INVENTOR. GfO/QG/ffl fibflff/f BY ATTORNEY than GEGRGE A. MALE'I'TE, 015 SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

To cZZ wiwm it may camera:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. MALEzrTn, a citlzen of the United States, residing at My invention relates to internal combustion engines more particularly of the reciprocating type, and the objects of 'm'y-invention are: first, to provide a novelly constructed engine of this type; second, to provide a gas engine of this class in which the cylinders are thoroughly scavenged by fresh air from the outside passing through said cylinders; third to provide a gas engine with twin cylinders with inlet ports intercornmunicating between said cylinders, and with ports for conducting the fresh air from the outside to the combustion chambers of i the engine cylinders; fourth, to provide a gas engine of this class in which each of the cylinders is sleeve extending the full length of each of such 0 linders, which serves as a jacket for the cy inder and also as intake and exhaust valves; fifth, to provide'a gas engine of this class in which the pistons are compound in each of the cylinders and the reciprocating sleeve is also compound, roviding an air compressing chamber, a uel compressing chamber as well as a fuel combustion chamher in each cylinder; sixth, to provide a novelly operated sleeve for gas engines; seventh, to provide a gas engine of this class in which fresh air is passed through the combustion chamber from the outside for com letely scavenging said combustion cham- Eer; eighth, to rovide a as engine in which the quantity 0 air mixe with the explosive gas is increased, in proportion to the speed of said engine thereby automatically prov1ding a leaner mixture at high speed, and decreased at slower speed, thereby automatically providing a richer mixture at slower engine speeds; ninth, to provide valve ports which are quick operating yet simple in operation being in open positions while sealed with the piston an in closed positions while sealed with the piston; tenth, to motor with a very light tandem oiston havno skirt; eleventh, to provide a motor ich can be easily and readily adjusted,

rovided with a reciprocatingrovide a I Application filed June. 21, 1921. Serial No. 479,407.

either manually or automatically, to compensate for altitude or heavy or hghter air other than b adjustment of carburetor or mixture; an twelfth, to provide a gas engm}; of this class in tandem cylinder form which is very'simple and economical of construction, durable, easy to operate, and which will not readily deteriorate or get out of order.

With these and other objects in View as will appear hereinafter, my invention consists of certain novel features of construction, combination, and arrangement of parts and portions as will be hereinafter described in detail and particularly set forth in the appended claims, reference being had to the accom an ing drawings and to the characters 0 re erence thereon which form a part of this application in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal'sectional view of one unit of my engine and showing some of the arts in elevation to facilitate the illustration. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view through 2-2 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view of the eccentric .and crank-in their 0 rative positions, A show ing the throw 0 the eccentric relatively to the crank B.

Similar characters of reference refer to similar parts and portions throughout the several views of the drawings.

The casing 1, head 2, sleeves B, eccentrics 4, pistons 5, connecting rods 6, pistons 7, connecting rods 8, and main shaft 9 constitute the principal parts and portions of my engine structure.

The casing 1 may be made in a single unit or aplurality of cylinders in block, as desired. I have disclosed a single unit, which is provided with two parallel cylinders, 1 and 1", the walls of which are water-jacketed in the conventional manner. The normally upper end of this casing is closed by means of a cylinder head 2. The walls of this casing are provided with exhaust ports 1, communicatlng with their interior and with fresh air intakes 1 and intermediate each of the cylinders 1 and 1", and communicating with the interior of said cylin ders are gas intake ports 1, to which a conventional carburetor is connected. Also intermediate these cylinders on diiferent elevated sitions, reciprocably mounted in each of these cylinders is a sleeve member 3 which fits snugly into said cylinders and adapted to reciprocate therein. These sleeves are provided with cross partitions 3* intermediate their ends which partition is provided with a stuffing box 3". Each of these sleeves is provided with exhaust ports 3 which are adapted to communicate with the exhaust port 1 when they attain the proper relative position to each other with the reciprocation of the sleeves 3, thus providing valve means for the exhaust of the burned gases after combustion. They are also provided with fuel inlet ports 3 and 3, one of which is adapted to communicate with the passage. 1, and the other with the port 1 These sleeves are also provided with fresh air inlet ports 3, which communicate with the ports 1 and with the fuel outlet 3 and wit-h by-pass rooves 3*.

These partitions 3 divi e the sleeves into two compartments, the upper compartment being mainly a combustion chamber and the lower compartment a gas compression chamber.

Reciprocably mounted in the combustion chamber portions are the pistons 5. To these pistons 5. are attached the one end of the connecting rods 6. which pass through the partitions 3 and the stufling boxes 3 form tight joints around said connecting rods 6. The other end of said connecting rod 6 connects with the pistons 7 which are reciprocably mounted in the normally lower ends of the sleeves 3 in the fuel compression chambers.

It will be noted that the pistons 5 may be of the conventional type and the connecting rod 6 rigidly secured thereto while the pistons 7 are preferably of special construction, consisting of the annular portion 7 on which are extended semi-spherical lug portions 7". which lug portions are externally threaded and adapted for the cap 7, which is also of spherical shape adapted to engage the spherical end 8* of the connecting rod 8, thus providing a ball joint connection between the piston 7 and connecting rod 8. it being noted that this will permit the revoluble movement of the pistons 5 and 7 in the sleeve, thus providing for uniformity of wear of the interior of the sleeves and of the pistons. The other ends of the connecting rods 8 connect with the crank shaft 9 in the conventional manner.

Mounted on the shaft 9 are the eccentrics 4 which connect with the lower ends of the sleeve members 3 by means of lugs 3 extending from the lower ends thereof, thus providing means for reciprocating the sleeve members 3 in the casing 1 and relatively to the pistons 5 and 7.

Though I have shown and described a particular construction, combination, and arrangement of parts and portions, I do not wish to be limited to this particular construction, combination, and arrangement but desire to include in the scope of my invention the construction, combination and. arrangement substantially as set forth in the appended claims.

The operation of the engine is as follows: It will be noted that the crank shaft is so constructed that when the pistons are ontheir inward stroke in one cylinder they are on their outward stroke in the other cylinder. On the inward stroke of either the fuel gas is compressed in the upper end of the cylinders formed in the upper ends of the sleeve members 3, and when the pistons 5 reach the inner position, ignition takes place which is accomplished by means of the spark plugs 2". At the same time fresh air is drawn into the upper end of this cylinder below the piston 5 through the ports 1 and 3' and the fuel gas is ported into the lower end of the sleeve below the partition 3 and is compressed by the cylinder 7 and forced through one of the ports 1 to the combustion chamber of the adjacent cylinder and when the pistons recede after the explosion takes place the piston 5 compresses the air between said piston and the partition 3 and when it reaches a certain posit-ion said air passes through the bypass grooves 3 into the combustion chamber, it being noted that there are preferably three of these by-passes 3 so that the fresh air is distributed around the interior of the combustion cylinder so that when the piston 5 makes its next inward stroke it forces the fresh air out through the exhaust port fully scavenging the combustion cylinder. With the recession of the pistons 7 gas is drawn in through the ort 1 and 3 which passes through the com )ustion chamber of the other cylinder with-the inward stroke of the piston 7 through the port 3 and 1, thus it will be noted that with this construction the sleeve 3 with its partition forms three chambers, namely: the combustion chamber, fresh air chamber,- and gas compression chamber, and that the sleeves 3 form the valve mechanism for the gas engine as well as a liner for the cylinders; that the quantity of air mixed with the explosive gas is increased in proportion to the speed of said engine thereby automatically providing a leaner mixture at. high speed and decreased at slower speeds thereby automatically providing a richer mixture at slower engine speeds, by reason of the fact that the velocity of the fresh air is constant feet per second while the time interval of the open exhaust port varies per engine speed. At low speed such as heavy pulling a part of the fresh air passes through the combustion chamber and out the exhaust port. At high speeds the exhaust port closes before the air leave the combustion chamber. None of the explosive gas leaves the chamber and a slight variation per explosion will give a great advantage.

It will be noted that the interior parts of the cylinder including the sleeves, pistons and connection "rods may all be removed through the head end by removing the head 2 removing the cap from the connecting rod 8 and the pins connecting the eccentrics with the lugs 3.

Having thu described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

1. A gas engine of the class described, including a casing with twin cylinders positioned side by side therein, a sleeve member extending the full length of said 0 linder reciprocably mounted in each of sai cylinders, each provided with a cross partition intermediate its ends forming two cylinders, one in each end of each of said sleeves, a crank operating piston reciprocably mounted in each end of each of said sleeves, a connecting rod common to both reciproca'bly mounted in said partition, means .in one cylinder portion of said sleeve adapted to conduct fluid past the piston and means in connection with one cylinder in the sleeve communicating with the other cylinder in the other sleeve, adapted to conduct fuel under pressure from the compression chamber to the combustion chamber of the opposing cylinder.

2. A gas engine of the class described, including a casin with twin cylinders positioned side by SidethGIBlIl, a sleeve member extendin the full length of said cylinder reciproca ly mounted in each of said cylinders, each provided with a cross partition intermediate its ends forming two cylinders, one in each end of said sleeve, a crank operating piston mounted in each end of each of said sleeves, a connecting rod common to both, reciprocably mounted in said partition, means in one cylinder portion of said sleeve adapted to conduct fluid past the piston and means in connection with one cylinder in one sleeve communicating with bustion chamber of the other sleeve, 8. main shaft and means in connection with said main shaft and said sleeve" for reciprocating said sleeve.

3. A gas engine, including a casing with twin cylinders positioned side by side therein, a sleeve reciprocably mounted in each of said cylinders provided with a partition intermediate its ends, a tandem crank operating piston reciprocably mounted on opposite sides of said partition, whereby a combustion chamber is provided between one piston and the cylinder head, a fresh air inlet chamber between said piston and said partition and a fuel compression chamber between said partition and the other piston, and means in connection with each of said sleeves and said casing for conducting fuel from the fuel compression chamber of one sleeve to the combustion chamber in the other sleeve and for admitting fresh air from the outside to the air chamber.

4. A gas engine, including a casing with twin cylinders therein parallel with each other, a sleeve reciprocably mounted in each of said c linders provided with a partition intermediate its ends, a tandem piston reoiprocably mounted on opposite sides of said partltion, whereby a combustion chamber is provided between one piston and the cylinder head and a fresh air inlet chamber between said piston and said partitions and a fuel compression chamber between said partition and the other piston, and means in connection with such sleeves and said casing for conducting fuel from said fuel compression chamber to the combustion chamber in the other cylinder and for admitting fresh air from the outside to the air inlet chamber, a main shaft, means in connection with said main shaft and said sleeve for reciprocating said sleeve with the,

revolution of said shaft and a connectin rod connecting said main shaft with one o the pistons by ball and socket connections.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at San Diego, California, this 16th the other cylinder in the other sleeve,\day of June, 1921.

adapted to conduct fuel under pressure from the compression chamber of one to the com- GEORGE A. MALETTE. 

